Catch Up Post!

Big news!

For the second time, a Hazardous Tales book has cracked the New York Times Best Seller list. TREATIES, TRENCHES, MUD, AND BLOOD debuted at #4 on the Hardcover Graphic Novel list! Thank you so much for pre-ordering and buying the book at launch. You readers are the ones who put it there. Hooray!

Now, on to more news. The studio chalkboard has been erased, and a new chart has been added. See below:

PREHISTORIC PREDATORS, a Scholastic book I did some illustrations for is finished, and drawings for Hazardous Tales book #5 start TODAY. The deadline: mid-August. We want book #5 to land on shelves in March 2015. It's going to be a drawing-drawing-drawing summer.

If you missed it, Comics Alternative did a great interview podcast with me about Hazardous Tales. We talked about some series secrets: the mysterious narrator idea before Hale, Provost, and Hangman came along, as well as the crazy original plan for book #4--it wasn't WWI! and many other unknown tidbits. Tune in here: Comics Alternative Podcast.

One last bit of news: The nominees for the Kids Comics Awards have been announced. DONNER DINNER PARTY has been nominated TWO times! For Favorite Non-Fiction Graphic Novel, and for Grossest Thing in Comics! All children can vote HERE. And please do! I'm up against Fregley's Gum-Chewing Belly-Button in the Grossest category. I'm going to need all the votes I can get!

LAUNCH DAY!

It's out, it's OUT! Hazardous Tales #4, Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood is out TODAY!

To celebrate, here are close-ups of the big LEGO display at my local library.

Book 4 is out today! Buy it, read it, review, and, if you have the bricks--build it!

In the Wild!

Hazardous Tales #4 is out in the wild!

These are at the King's English Bookstore in SLC. And they are all signed!

A Hazardous Week in Texas

This week I was in San Antonio, Texas. I was there for TLA, the Texas Librarian Association convention--the biggest library convention in the country aside from the national ALA convention. This year has been a great year for the Hazardous Tales books because One Dead Spy is on this year's Bluebonnet Master List--the state book award in Texas.

While I was there, this happened:

This is a copy of Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood. How rare is this? I don't even have one. I have no idea how this librarian was able to talk the people in the Amulet booth into selling it. It's a mystery. My guess, she's a professional hypnotist.

We're just a month away from launch. This book should start popping up everywhere soon.

Spoiler from the photo, this book is dedicated to Snoopy.

If you'd like more of a preview, take a look at the book on Amazon. It has a nearly 20 page preview.

While I was in San Antonio, I was able to slip away from TLA one morning and visit the Alamo.

Why was I visiting the Alamo? Looking in the basement for Pee Wee Herman's bike? Hiding from hypnotist librarians? Or maybe doing on-site research for a future Hazardous Tales book?

Possibly all three!

Meet the Hangman!

And the last of our introduction pages. The Hangman:

By the way, we were off the NYT Bestseller list for one week--but we're back ON! At #8! That makes four weeks on the list! Hooray!

Yeti color test 1

Apologies for the missed posts--I was in Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con. I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Jeff Smith (Bone), Kazu Kibiushi (Amulet), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules), and Royden Lepp (Rust). With a line-up like that, I couldn't say no.

So, here's a one-hour color test on the Yeti scene. This one featuring everybody in shadow, with the long tree shadows coming forward to the viewer. It's fun--but I'm not in love with the distant mountain--kinda muddy back there. We'll try a few more color passes to see what works best.

Three weeks on the list!

Yeti Wash

Okay, so here's step 2 of my Yeti illustration. A slight watercolor wash. Just two colors, brown and blue, to fill out some of the shapes and give it a little texture. The image is now a mid-tone that I can work lighter and darker.

I'm starting to realize painting a Yeti in the snow, among white trees,  is sort of like the old "polar bear in a blizzard" painting.

From here on out, the painting will go digital. I may try a few different lighting scenes, to see what works best.